Please give as much information as possible and, where available, attach a photo of any damage incurred.

Important distinction

A distinction must be made between cleaning and maintenance and repair. Carefully and briefly:

• cleaning will always be the tenant’s responsibility

•maintenance is mainly up to the tenant, with judgement based on common sense for the parts to which the tenant has no access

•the repair of an item outside the rented property or of a shared part will always be the owner’s responsibility. On the other hand, small repairs of items within the rented property will be, a priori, the tenant’s responsibility.

Regarding the need to advise the owner.

The idea of “managing as if it were your own” implies, amongst other things that the owner should be advised as quickly as possible, when a problem occurs. If this is not the case, the owner could assert that the problem became more serious without his being informed about it.

If the owner takes no action, can the tenant carry out the work himself and present the owner with the bill?

The tenant has no other possibility than to apply to a judge to force the landlord to carry out the work.

To be avoided

Suffering damage in the rented property does not entitle the tenant to stop paying rent. In case of disagreement, only the Judge is authorised to make a decision, according to his view, possibly with the support of an expert opinion.